Service boys, Dimond girls repeat as champs at state swimming championships

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Soldotna's Ethan Evans hugs Service's Brian Jarupakorn after Jarupakorn nearly beat the state record in the 50 yard freestyle race Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 during the state swimming and diving championships at Bartlett. (Loren Holmes / ADN)

Swim fans saw double Saturday at the state swimming and diving championships at the Bartlett High pool, where the Dimond girls and Service boys claimed the top spots for the second straight year.

Dreamer Kowatch won the 100-yard freestyle race for the Lynx and swam legs on two winning relays, joining sister Breckyn Willis, Mikayla Terry and Brooke Dittlinger to win the 200 freestyle relay and teaming with Willis, Terry and Hannah Boyce to win the 400 freestyle relay.

The championship was the fifth straight and 10th overall for Dimond, breaking a tie with the 1977-80 Ketchikan Kings for the most consecutive girls team titles and bringing the Lynx one title away from tying Service for the most overall championships.

Eagle River’s McKenzie Fazio was the lone double winner on the girls side with big wins in the 200 and 500 freestyle races for the second-place Wolves. Fazio also swam a leg on the winning 200 medley relay team for Eagle River, which also got wins from Ellie Mercer in the 100 backstroke and Kiara Borchardt in the 100 butterfly.

Other girls winners included Olympic-trials-bound Lydia Jacoby of Seward — who broke her own state record in the 100 breaststroke by more than two seconds — as well as Homer’s Madison Story (200 individual medley), Lathrop’s Katy McCarter (50 free) and Wasilla’s Carrie Mayer (diving).

Service secured its second straight boys title and 10th overall by winning the day’s final race, with Nicholas Price, Brian Jarupakorn, Ethan Kwon and Tavner Wisdom claiming victory in the 400 freestyle relay to clinch the championship over second-place Dimond by three points.

The Cougars dominated the podium by winning eight of the 12 boys races, including two of three relays. Service got two individual wins each from Jarupakorn (50 free, 100 butterfly), Wisdom (200 free, 100 breaststroke) and Price (200 IM, 100 backstroke). All three swimmers went a perfect four-for-four on the day, with two relay and two individual wins each after also teaming up with Kwon to win the 200 yard freestyle relay.

Other individual boys winners included Wasilla diver Andrew Layman, West Valley’s Ezra Billings (100 free) and Juneau-Douglas’s Caleb Peimann (500 free). The Dimond boys team of Jacob Mitchell, Andrew Billings, Noah Hoefer and Fischer Kass won the 200 IM relay.

West Valley finished third in both the boys and girls standings.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the swimmers on Service’s winning boys relay teams.

ASAA/First National Bank state swimming and diving

Friday-Saturday, Bartlett High

Boys

Team scores — 1) Service, 102; 2) Dimond, 99; 3) West Valley, 49; 4) Eagle River, 40; 5) Juneau-Douglas, 36; 6) Colony, 34; 7) Kodiak, 32; 8) Chugiak, 28; 9) Kenai Central, 24; 10) Seward, 18; 11) Wasilla, 16; 12) (tie) Soldotna and West, 13; 14) Sitka, 11; 15) South, 10; 16) (tie) Petersburg and Thunder Mountain, 8; 18) Cordova, North Pole and Ketchikan, 4; 21) Valdez, 2

200 yard medley relay — 1) Dimond (Jacob Mitchell, Andrew Billings, Noah Hoefer, Fischer Kass), 1:37.86; 2) Eagle River, 1:40.82; 3) Kodiak, 1:41.18; 4) Kenai, 1:41.78

200 yard freestyle — 1) Tavner Wisdom, Service, 1:44.65; 2) Jesse Tatakis, Dim, 1:44.76; 3) Kenneth Octuk, Dim, 1:45.22; 4) Caleb Peimann, JDHS, 1:45.25

200 yard individual medley — 1) Nicholas Price, Service, 1:55.93; 2) Ian Rochelaau, Kod, 1:57.73; 3) Matthew Heaphy, ER, 1:59.45; 4) Julien Wiese, West, 2:00.35

50 yard freestyle — 1) Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 20.53; 2) Ezra Billings, WV, 21.03; 3) Ethan Evans, Sol, 21.26; 4) Connor Spanos, Sew, 21.89

Diving — 1) Andrew Layman, Wasilla, 464.65l 2) Eli Krozel, Col, 461.65; 4) Kade Reynolds, Was, 439.50

100 yard butterfly — 1) Brian Jarupakorn, Service, 49.90; 2) Jimmy Blackstone, Chu, 53.00; 3) Connor Spanos, Sew, 53.15; 4) Jacob Mitchell, Dim, 53.22

100 yard freestyle — 1) Ezra Billings, West Valley. 47.84; 2) Jesse Tatakis, Dim, 47.91; 3) Scott Babbitt, Dim, 48.16; 4) Konnor Kolberg, Col, 48.79

500 yard freestyle — 1) Caleb Peimann, Juneau-Douglas, 4:46.88l 2) Tytan Frawley, Sit, 4:48.25; 3) Logan Fox, WV, 4:48.25; 4) Peter Kowalski, Pet, 4:51.59; 5) Trent Fritsch, Cdv, 4:51.75

200 yard freestyle relay — 1) Service (Nicholas Price, Brian Jarupakorn, Ethan Kwon, Tavner Wisdom), 1:25.99; 2) Dimond, 1:27.64; 3) West Valley, 1:29.73; 4) Eagle River, 1:29.96

100 yard backstroke — 1) Nicholas Price, Service, 52.29; 2) Jonathan Cowin, Col, 52.42; 3) Jacob Mitchell, Dim, 53.74; 4) Jimmy Blackstone, Chu, 55.64

100 yard breaststroke — 1) Tavner Wisdom, Service, 57.14; 2) Ethan Evans, Sol, 58.06; 3) Matthew Heaphy, ER, 58.96; 4) Ethan Kwon, Ser, 1:00.34

400 yard freestyle relay — 1) Service (Nicholas Price, Brian Jarupakorn, Ethan Kwon, Tavner Wisdom), 3:11.15; 2) Dimond, 3:13.89; 3) West Valley, 3:17.87; 4) Colony, 3:21.16

Girls

Team scores — 1) Dimond, 100; 2) Eagle River, 74; 3) West Valley, 65; 4) Sitka, 60; 5) Homer, 44; 6) Lathrop, 28; 7) South, 26; 8) Thunder Mountain, 21; 9) Colony, 20; 10) Kodiak, 18; 11) Seward, 15; 12) (tie) Wasilla and Palmer, 14; 14) (tie) Monroe and Hutchinson, 11; 16) Ketchikan, 8; 17) Chugiak, 7; 18) Juneau-Douglas, 6; 19) Soldotna, 4; 20) (tie) Wrangell and West, 3; 22) Valdez, 1

200 yard medley relay — 1) Eagle River (Ellie Mercer, Hannah Shaw, Kiara Borchardt, McKenzie Fazio), 1 minute, 48.85 seconds; 2) Homer, 1:51.38; 3) Dimond, 1:52.29; 4) West Valley, 1:52.83

200 yard freestyle — 1) McKenzie Fazio, Eagle River, 1:53.36; 2) Breckynn Willis, Dim, 1:58.28; 3) Emma Gassman, 2:00.27; 4) Leslie Spear, Kod, 2:00.40

200 yard individual medley — 1) Madison Story, Homer, 2:07.07; 2) Dreamer Kowatch, Dim, 2:08.55; 3) Lydia Jacoby, Sew, 2:09.83; 4) Patty Eppingher, WV, 2:12.70

50 yard freestyle — 1) Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 24.53; 2) Grace Harang, Sit, 24.57; 3) Ellie Mercer, ER, 24.89; 4) Brooke Dittlinger, Dim, 25.06

Diving — 1) Carrie Mayer, Wasilla, 437.05; 2) Jenna Walch, dimond, 397.75; 3) Tyler Coffman, Palmer, 387.55; 4) Grace Greene, Hutchison, 372.85

100 yard butterfly — 1) Kiara Borchardt, Eagle River, 57.47; 2) Breckynn Willis, Dim, 57.71; 3) Summer Cheng, South, 58.85; 4) Sophia Schwantes, Sitka, 1:00.00

100 yard freestyle — 1) Dreamer Kowatch, Dimond, 52.63; 2) Katy McCarter, Lathrop, 52.88; 3) Shelby Thompson, Chu, 54.29; 4) Samantha Bristor, WV, 54.43

500 yard freestyle — 1) McKenzie Fazio, Eagle River, 5:11.73; 2) Grace harang, Sit, 5:17.41; 3) Emma Gassman, Sit, 5:17.71; 4) Cassidy Welsh, Hutch, 5:18.65

200 yard freestyle relay — 1) Dimond (Dreamer Kowatch, Mikayla Terry, Brooke Dittlinger, Breckynn Willis), 1:38.86; 2) Eagle River, 1:39.65; 3) Homer, 1:41.38; 4) West Valley, 1:42.89

100 yard backstroke — 1) Ellie Mercer, Eagle River, 56.77; 3) Heidi Billings, WV, 57.70; 3) Summer Cheng, South, 59.60; 4) Victoria Schachle, Monroe, 1:01.63

100 yard breaststroke — 1) Lydia Jacoby, Sew, 1:00.61 (new state record; old record 1:03.11 by Jacoby in 2018); 2) Madison Story, 1:03.57; 3) Patty Eppingher, WV, 1:06.62; 4) Jasmine Biederman, Col, 1:07.08

400 yard freestyle relay — 1) Dimond (Breckynn Willis, Mikayla Terry, Hannah Boyce, Dreamer Kowatch), 3:37.40; 2) Sitka, 3:41.07; 3) West Valley, 3:42.55; 4) Thunder Mountain, 3:43.85